1. Field
The following description relates generally to an anti-reflection film and a display device including the same, and a manufacturing method of an anti-reflection film and a master film therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to reduce or prevent outdoor sunlight, indoor lighting, etc. from being reflected on surfaces of various display devices and obstructing an original image from being viewed properly, it is necessary to reduce as much as possible the reflection of various external light occurring on the surface of a display device. Reflections on a surface can be divided into specular reflection and diffuse reflection. The specular reflection refers to a case where an incident angle and a reflection angle on a surface are identical to each other. The specular reflection takes place on a surface that may be assumed to be almost completely or substantially flat. On the other hand, the diffuse reflection takes place due to surface irregularities, and refers to a case where incident light is not entirely reflected at the same angle as an incident angle, but the reflected light is instead scattered according to the degree of surface irregularity.
Methods of reducing or preventing the reflection of external light occurring on the surface of a display device include an anti-glare (AG) coating method and an anti-reflection (AR) coating method.
The AG coating involves scattering external light by providing a surface with protrusions and depressions so as to have roughness of several tens to several hundreds of nanometers (nm). That is, the AG coating is a method of reducing specular reflection by forming an uneven surface on the outermost side of a display device and reducing the intensity of reflected light entering the field of vision of an observer situated at a particular angle and obtaining the result thereof. The size of the protrusions and depressions may be determined by the wavelength of light and an irregularity in appearance, and the protrusions and depressions should be uniformly distributed so as to cause diffuse reflection to occur over the entire surface.
As opposed to the AG that obtains a scattering effect to diffuse reflection, the AR coating exhibits an anti- or non-reflection effect by decreasing the reflectance of specular reflection. Although the AG coating allows for effective distribution of the reflection of external light, the AG coating has a drawback in that an image passing through an AG coating surface shows a decrease in sharpness due to the effect of the protrusions and depressions of the surface. Thus, the AR coating for reducing the reflectance of specular reflection is used when it is required to display a clear image.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the described technology and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.